Irises

A third impression or related composition in Shimura's Irises subject. The existence of multiple states within a single woodblock series is characteristic of mid-twentieth-century Japanese print publishing, in which limited editions were sometimes restruck with alterations to the color blocks, signature placement, or background treatment. Each impression carries the marks of its specific printing — the pressure of the baren, the absorbency of that particular sheet of washi, the temperature of the studio on the day of pulling. In a figure-with-iris composition, slight shifts in the depth of the purple petals or the green of the leaves can alter the mood, pushing the image toward dawn freshness or evening melancholy. Shimura's iris compositions belong to a postwar moment in bijin-ga when the genre had largely fallen out of mainstream commercial demand and survived through specialist print clubs, dedicated publishers, and a small collector base in Japan and abroad. The continued interest in his work reflects the precision of his draftsmanship and the contemplative quality he brought to a subject that had often tilted toward the decorative.